Feeding of sheets of cardboard or other material



March 10, 1931. J.-l. NASMITH ET AL FEEDING QF SHEETS OF CARDBOARD OR OTHER MATERIAL Eiled July 12.. 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 037 BM MM 51M the thickness of such material.

Patented Mar. 10, 1931 means unites STATES rarsn'rerrics JOHN IRVING- NASMITH, OF ELTEAM, LONIDQN, AND 'VTELF BED KIR-BY, OF BARNES, LONDON, ENGLAND, ASSIG-NORS T0 VEGKERS-AEIVISTRONGS LEMITEJJ, OF LONDON,

ENGLAND, A BRITISH COMPANY FEEDING- OF SHEETSOF CARDBOARD OR OTHER IEATERIAL Application filed July 12, 1929, Serial No. 377,706, and in Great Britain August 31, 1928.

This invention relates to the feeding of sheets of cardboard or other material, and more particularly to the feeding of sheets singly from a pile of sheets.

Various forms of sheet feeding devices have been proposed in which the top sheet of the pile is propelled forwardlyby frictional contact with one or more rubber covered discs or the like. With such devices, however, difliculties have been experienced owing to the uncertainty of the top sheet releasing it self from the rest of the pile, and the object of thepresent invention is to overcomethese difficulties, and to ensure that the top sheet shall be given positive displacement relative.

ly to those underneath.

According to the invention the top sheet of the pile is fed forwardly under the influence of one or more (preferably two) propelling members which engage the rear edge of the sheet and the upper surface of the sheet in the vicinity of its rear edge, and a holding-down or guiding member which engages the upper surface of the sheet at or near its forward edge. The sheet is passed through a. gap which is arranged contiguous to the forward edge of the top sheet. The upper wall of such gap may be constituted by the lower surface of the holding-down member and the lower wall of such gap may be formed by the upper surface of a vertically disposed bottom plate or blade arranged so as to bear against the forward end of the pile. The upper surface of such blade is preferably of convex formation and the width of the gap at its narrowest part may be slightly greater than the thickness of the material being fed but is pref erably of the order of one and one-half times The holdingdown member is preferably slidably mounted and so interconnected with the propelling member or members that it is moved fOY'v ardly at the same speed as that of the sheet and, if desired, the lower surface of the holdingdown member may be roughened or serrated to enable it to assist in the movement of the sheet. To enable the sheets constituting the pile to be fed successively the propelling member or members andthe holding-down member are given a reciprocating movement in a horizontal or substantially horizontal plane, which movement may be derived from any suitable source.

.Thepile. of sheets may be mounted upon a table or support and means may be provided for raising the table as the pile diminishes.

ln-order,however, to ensure that the gapshall always be opposite the top sheet of the pile the members forming the gap may be carried by a suspended framework which is adapted to rise and fall as the level of the top sheet rises and falls. F or this purpose the part in which the holding-clown member is 1 sli-dablymounted and the bottom blade may be secured to a pair of parallel cross bars having their ends secured to a pair of vertical rods arranged one at each side of the machine, the upper ends of such rods being Suspender,

from a pair of substantially horizontal pivotally mounted levers. The said levers may 1 be provided with suitable balance weights so that the turning moment produced on the levers by the framework consisting of the vertical rods and the parts carried thereby, exceeds that produced by the counter-weights by an amount which is justsuilicient to keep the upper wall of the gap or the lower surface of the holding-down member in contact with the top sheet of the pile. Bymounting the holding-down member in this fashion the pressure applied to the top of the pile is reduced to a minimum and the drawbacks attendant upon those forms of feeding devices which rely uponthe application of considerable pressures to the top of the pile are over-' come.

In order that the said invention may be clearly understood and readily carried into effect, the same will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which v Figure 1 is an elevation of one embodiment of the invention;

Figure 2 is a side View, looking in the direction of the arrow A, of the arrangement illustrated in Figure 1, the pile of sheets shown broken away in the left hand part of the view in order to show the position'of the bottom blade;

Figure?) is an enlarged view of the sus pended framework by which the holdingdown member and other parts are carried,

g "e is an enlarged end view showing position of the holding-clown inen'iber and the bottom blade.

a, are the propelling members each of which consists of a narrow block having a 1:

19 the upper surface of the top sheet of the pile 7) and a downwardly projecting linger 0 for .ngagement with the rear edge of such sheet, 1 said fingers being adjustably secured to 1"?11 ed 'es of the blocks by screws cZ so *rs may be raised or lowered he thickness of the sheets to be ted to engage the upper be fed in the vicinity ges and consists of a narnted bar the underneath icli is preferably formed with e to in the feeding l T which the holding-clown ciprocated comprise a pair of as g whicl are mounted above the their free and lower endsconnected by a Cll, s bar it extending transversely of the direction of fe W. The rear end of the holding-down member is formed wi h a vertical slot and the arrangement is such that the crossbar engages tiie sid walls of the slot and an oscillatory or swinging movement of the reciting s will cause a reciprocating movethe holdingdown' member, the rise the cross bar 7L due to the swinging arms g' being accommodated by the vertical slot To enable the propelling members a to move in unison with the holding down member 6 they are mounted on the is r ends of a pair of rearwardly extending rods j the forward ends of which are secured 4 Quid ill or pivokilly mounted on, the cross bar h. c said propelling members are preferably adjustably mounted, for instance, by the aid sci-e. 70, on the rods so as to permit the or of the propelling members to be l in accordance with the length of the being fed. Also, the rods may have or n e counter-weights Z adjustably nted thereon. The upper ends of the mg arms 9 are secured to a sleeve m which otatably mounted on a shaft 11, which 2:; mounted in position in the framework of he machine above the pile so that it extends I r :sversely of the direction of feed.

is the gap through which the sheets are the forward end of the machine and 1e wall of which is constituted by the f X lace of the holding-down member. J he lo .vcr wall of the gap is formed by the uppers rfaceofthe erticallydisposedbottom blade or plate 32 which is arranged so that it bears against the forward end of the pile and 't Uiderneath surface for ngagement with the width of which is substantially the same as that of the holding-down member. The upper surface of the blade is of convex formation as may be seen from Figures 2, 3 and 4, and the tip or the upper end of the blade is bent or formed so that it is curved slightly out of the vertical towards the rear end of the machine. By forming the upper end of the blade in this fashion the sheets will each in turn be given a slight backward movement as they sproach the top of the pile. It has been found that this facilitates the feeding of the saeets throu h the gap and tends to prevent the top sheet from adhering to the one below. The feeding of the sheets through the gap may be further facilitated by causing their for 'ard edges to be inclined upwardly. In order to produce this result the forward edge of the table or support on which the pile rests may be provided with a curved or inclined fac The forward edges of the sheets constituti I he pile may rest against a vertical stack plate 7* which may be formed with a cut away portion 5 to allow relative movement to take place between the stack plate and the bottom blade p.

As mentioned above the holding-down member and the parts associated therewith are preferably carried by'a suspended framework so that pressure on top of the pile is reduced to a minimum. ln the arrangement illustrated the holding-down member 0 is slidably mounted in a member 75 which is s cured to a cross bar to and the bottom blade 39 is secured to another cross bar 7) which is parallel to the cross bar it, the said cross bars being secured at their ends to a pair of vertical rods to arranged. one at each side of the machine and the upper ends of the rods 10 being suspended from a pair of substantially horizontal levers a; which are pivoted on the transverse shaft n. The levers :0 are provided on the opposite sides of their pivots w'th balance weights p which are adjusted so that the turning moment produced on the levers by the framework consisting of the ver tical rods w and the parts carried thereby exceeds that produced by the counter-weights y by an. amount which is just sufficient to keep the lower surface of the holding-down member in contact with the top sheet of the pile. By this arrangement the holding-down member more or less floats on the upper surface of the pile and wi l rise and fall as the level of the top sheet of the i lle rises and falls so as to ensure that the gap shall always be opposite such top sheet.

The invention is particularly applicable to feeding mechanisms for rotary scoring and cutting machines for the preparation of carton blanks but it will be understood that it may readily be applied to feeding mechanisms for other machines into which it is ize required to feed sheets singly from a pile of 7 sheets.

*vVhat we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is 1. A sheet feeding device comprising a propelling member adapted to engage the rear edge of the sheet to be fed, a holding-down or guiding member adapted to engage the upper surface of the sheetin the vinicity of its forward edge, means for reciprocating the propelling and holding-down members, and a bottom blade spaced a short distance from the lower surface of the holding-down member, the upper surface of the bottom blade being of convex formation and curved so as to deflect the top sheets of the pile backwardly.

2. A sheet feeding device comprising a propelling member adapted to engage the rear edge of the sheet to be fed, a slotted holding-down or guiding member adapted to engage theupper surface of the sheet in the vicinity of its forward edge, and means for reciprocating the propelling and holdingdown members comprising apair of rocking arms interconnected by a cross bar which is slidable in the slot formed in the holding down member and rods extending rearwardly from the said cross bar, the propelling members being carried bythe said rods.

3. A sheet feeding device comprising a propelling member adapted to engage the rear edge of the sheet to be fed, a holding down or guiding member constituting the upper surface of a gap through which the sheet passes, which surface is adapted to move with the sheet and to engage the upper surface thereof in the vicinity of its forward edge and means for moving the propelling and holding down members.

41. A sheet feeding device for feeding sheets singly from a pile of sheets comprising a propelling member consisting of a narrow block having a fiat underneath surface for engagement with the upper surface of thetop sheet of the pile and a downwardly projecting finger for engagement with the rear edge of such sheet, a holding down or guiding member constituting the upper surface ofa gap through which the sheet passes and which is adapted to move with the sheet and to engage the upper surface thereof in the vicinity of its forward edge and means for moving the propelling and holding down members.

5. A sheet feeding device comprising a propelling member adapted to engage the rear edge of the sheet to be fed, a holding down or guiding member consisting of a slidably mounted bar having a roughened or serrated underneath surface constituting the upper surface of a gap through which the sheet passes and which is adaptedto move with the sheet and to engage the upper surface thereof in the vicinity of its forward edge and means for reciprocating the propelling and holding down members.

6. A sheet feeding device for feeding sheets singly from a pile of sheets comprising a propelling member adapted to engage the rear edge of the sheet to be fed, a holding down or guiding member constituting the upper sur-- face of a gap through which the sheet passes and which is adapted to move with the sheet and toengage the uppersurface thereof in the vicinity of its forward edge, means interconnecting the holding down and propelling members and means whereby the holding down and propelling members can be reciprocated in unison.

7. A sheet feeding device comprising a propelling member adapted to engage the rear edge of the sheet to be fed, a holding down or guiding member constituting the upper surface of a gap through which the sheet passes and which is adapted to move'with the sheet and to engage the upper surface thereof in the vicinity of its forward edge, means for reciprocating the propelling and holding down members, a framework by which the said holding down member is carried and a counter-weight on the said frame-work, the said framework being suspended so that the turning moment-produced by the framework eX- ceeds that produced by the counter-weight by an' amount which is just suficient to keep the lower surface of the holding down member inv contact with the top sheet of the pile.

8. A sheet feeding device comprising a propelling member adapted to engage the rear edge of the sheet .to be fed, a holding down or guiding member constituting the upper surface of va gap through which the sheet passes and which is adapted to move with the sheet and to engage the upper surface of the sheet in the vicinity of its forward edge,

a vertically disposed bottom blade spaced a short distance'from the lower surface of said holding down member and constituting the lower surface of said gap and means for reciprocating the propelling and holding down members. I

9. A sheet feeding device comprising a propelling member adapted to engage the rear edge of the sheet to be fed, a holding down or guiding member constituting the upper surface of a' gap through which the. sheet passes and which is adapted to move with the. sheet and to engage the upper surface thereof inthe vicinity of its forward edge, a vertically disposed bottom blade spaced a short distance from the lower surface of the holding down member and constituting the lower surface of said gap, a framework carrying said holding down member said framework being sus pended so that the space between the holding down member and the bottom blade is ale ways'maintained opposite the top sheet of the pile, and means for reciprocating the propelling and holding down members.

10. A sheet feeding device for feeding sheets singly from a pile of sheets comprising propelling members adapted to engage the rear edge of the sheets to be fed, a holding down or guiding member constituting the upper surface of a gap through which the sheet passes and wiich is adapted to move with the sheets and to engage the upper surface thereof in the vicinity of its forward edge, means for reciprocating the propelling and holding down lDQlIlbGlS and means for maintaining he holoing down and propelling members in engagement with the top sheet of the pile.

11. A sheet feeding device for feeding sheets singly frem a pile of sheets, comprising a table on which the pile of sheets rests, propelling members for engagement with the rear edge of the top sheet of the pile, a holding down and guiding member constituting the upper surface of a gap through which the sheet passes and which is adapted to move with the sheet and to engage the upper surface thereof in the vicinity of its forward edge, means for reciprocating the propelling and holding down members and means for maintaining the holding down and propelling members in engagement with the top sheet of the pile, the forward edge of the table con stituting the lower surface of said gap being inclined or curved in an upward direction.

12. A sheet feeding device for feeding sheets singly from a pile of sheets comprising propelling members adapted to engage the rear edge of the sheet to be fed, a holding down or guiding member constituting the upper surface of a gap through which the sheet passes and which is adapted to move with the sheet and to engage the upper surface thereof in the vicinity of its forward edge and means for reciprocating the holding down and propelling members, said holding down member being suspended and counterweighted so that it is maintained in contact with the top sheet of the pile without exerting considerable pressure thereon.

13. A sheet feeding device comprising a propelling member adapted to engage the rear edge of the sheet to be fed, a holding down or guiding member constituting the upper surface of a gap through which the sheet passes and which is adapted to move with the sheet and to engage the upper surface of the sheet in the vicinity of its for ward edge a bottom blade spaced a short distance from the lower surface of saidholding down member and constituting the lower surface of said gap the upper surface of the bottom blade being of convex formation and curved so as to deflect the top sheet of the pile backwardly and means for reciprocating the propelling and holding down members.

JOHN IRVING NASMITH. WVILFRED KIRBY. 

